We’re Pregnant with Baby #2!

We are so excited to be pregnant with our next and probably final child!

We are so excited about welcoming another baby to our family in January 2018. We are considering it the “final leg” of our Speedy Thiede marathon relay team. Yes, we are runner geeks.

Conceiving this time was such a guessing game since I am still breastfeeding our son. It took until he was 16 months old for my cycle to return. I continued to pump at work until about 15 months, and when together, he nursed 4-5 times a day still. So, my body was not ready for another baby.

I kept trying to guess what my body was doing, but because I wasn’t cycling, I had no idea. I spent many months guessing what my body was doing and taking a bunch of negative pregnancy tests. It was really frustrating. Since I wasn’t having a cycle we planned to have sex every few days to try to catch the first ovulation before I would have a period.

Breastfeeding while Trying to Conceive

I was all for Noah nursing until he was ready to wean, and I love the idea of tandem nursing. However, this comes with its own set of complications, especially when trying to have another baby. Until I was able to nurse less or low enough amounts that my prolactin levels decreased to a level that allowed me to ovulate. That took about 7 months from when we were open to having another baby until I had my first post-partum period. Part of this delay occurred because I continued to pump at work for longer than I needed. Emotionally, I wasn’t ready to stop that because of all the nursing issues we had. I had a complex about providing every drop of milk that I could. Once I was able to make peace with the fact that he is incredibly healthy, I was able to let go of pumping, and I WAS SO MUCH HAPPIER to be able to let go!

MyFLO app

Finally, I heard that Alissa Vitti, author of Woman Code, was coming out with a MyFLO app. Typically, I am very frugal and would scoff at the cost of even a $1.99 app. However, I knew this one would be worth it.

In the app, you track your monthly cycle and symptoms. The app starts to recognize where you have issues, what areas of your cycle are long or short based on your symptoms, and the best part is it recommends lifestyle and food choices to help improve your symptoms.

Every month, I had less and less symptoms, and by the time we got pregnant, I had no symptoms. Plus, I have had a way easier first trimester this time, which I will discuss in another blog post.